In a bid to empower women, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a new small savings scheme for women investors in the Union Budget 2023-24 was announced to commemorate ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’. The scheme will be called Mahila Samman Saving Certificate (MSSC).
With a tenor of two years and a fixed interest rate of 7.5%, this will provide deposit options up to Rs 2 lakh in the name of women or girls with the option of partial withdrawal.
From April 2023 through March 2025, the Mahila Samman Savings Certificate offers a fixed interest rate.
The notification was issued recently. The two-year tenure scheme offers an attractive and fixed interest of 7.5 percent interest compounded quarterly with flexible investment and partial withdrawal options with a maximum ceiling of Rs 2 lakh. Besides, interest rates on several small savings schemes have been upwardly revised with effect from today.
"These measures will immensely benefit the post office small savings customers and attract more investment in these schemes through post offices, especially in rural areas and amongst girls, women, farmers, artisans, senior citizens, factory workers, government employees, small traders and other sections of the society. They will get a better return on their investment in small savings schemes," the Finance Ministry said.
The government has raised the rate of interest on various Small Savings Schemes for the first quarter of the financial year 2023-24 starting April 1 by up to 70 basis points (100 basis points is equal to 1 percentage point). The government typically reviews the interest rates on small savings schemes every quarter. The formula to arrive at the interest rates for a small savings scheme was given by the Shyamala Gopinath Committee.
The committee had suggested yields on government bonds should be the benchmarks for the interest on various small savings instruments and should be reset every first of April. The interest rate on the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme was hiked by 20 basis points, National Savings Certificate by 70 basis points, Kisan Vikas Patra by 30 basis points, and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana by 40 basis points.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also increased the repo rate since May 2022 to manage rising inflation. In line with RBI`s rate hike, banks are following suit, which is a positive for various deposit schemes.
The steps apply:
- - Get the Mahila Samman Bachat Patra Yojana form from your local bank or post office
- - Enter your details in the application form
- - Submit the application form with the required documentation
- - Select the amount of the deposit you want to make.
- - Deposit the amount via cheque or cash.
- - A certificate will be issued to you as proof of your investment.
(with inputs from ANI)
